THE MARCH UP FROM MAIDAN. 515 taking it in turns tohuddle together on the sti'l warmrubble whichhad fallen from the burning houses. It was an anxious time for the officers, for it was anticipated that the enemy might find courage to make another attack when therising moonshouldreveal the weaknessof ourposition. But the coolness andconfident bearing ofColonel Haughton kept us all in good heart, and made us feel pretty certain that we should come out right side uppermost. Still,it was with feelings of intense relief thatwe saw the palegrey dawn appear, andknew that we could soon be up and doing. Communication was at once opened with Des Voeux across the nullah, and all the ground near by was carefully searched to see if any of our men had been left behind,killed or wounded, in the hurry and confusion of the events of the night. Then we commenced our movement on camp, sending on the wounded first under a strong escort. The enemy opened fire onus from the surroundinghills at once, but in the uncertainlight their aim was bad, andno one was hit. We sent the woundedalong the mainnullahrunningpast the camp,and covered them on one side with tlae 15th Sikhs, and on the other with a company of the 36th Sikhs and the few Dorsets who were with us. These latter, army was strong enough to choose its own ground and go wherever it chose. 1c was said that in the grove surrounding its mosque the meeting had been held at which the raidon the Khyber was arranged, and the Afridis on the morning of November 18th gathered in their thousands to oppose theviolationof their mountain sanctuary.

As the troops were marched up from Maidan a sharp fusillade poured from the hills on their flanks. When the new camping ground was reached the fire continued from the heights round Bagh, the enemy occupying more than a semicircle of difficult ground north, east, and west of the place. A round hill to the northwest was stronglyheld, and had to be stormed by the Queen's and the 3rd Sikhs. A mountain batter}' was then brought into action on the summit and shelled the enemy's positions, but whileit was thusengageda party of daring riflemencrept up within 500 yards of the guns and opened so sharp a fire that some of them had to be temporarily withdrawn. Captain Parker, the battery commander, had his clothes torn by a bullet; oneof his lieutenantshadhis ear cut by another; a gunner was shot dead as he was laying agun; another dropped at his captain's side, anel the third officer with the battery had his scabbard smashed by a bullet. Several fortified houses near the camp were stormed by the YorkshireRegiment,and at last the enemydrew off. The morning's sight had cost five men killed and twenty-two wounded. After dark the Afridis reoccupied their positions on the hills, and during the first hours of the night bullets were singing overthe camp anddropping here and there within it;but the men had by thistimelearnedsomethingof mountain warfare, and had so carefully entrenched their camping ground that no lives were lost. Nor was the defence of the camp merely passive; the Goorkha scouts stole quietly out when the "sniping" began, stalked several of tlae Afridis, and either shot them at close quarters or cut them downwith the favourite Goorkha weapon, the short, broad-bladed "kukri."

a mere handful, showed great gallantry and steadiness all through the affair, and although they suffered much from the coldand exposure, responded cheerfully to every call made upon them. We had not gone far when we met a force coming out from camp to help us, and right glad we were to be able to march straight in withoutfurther trouble."

The loss had beenheavy. Four British officers werekilled and three wounded. Of the rank and file theDorsetshad tenkilled andeight wounded; the15th Sikhs,ten killedand thirteen wounded; the 36th Sikhs, six killed and seven wounded; the Goorkhas, three killed and four wounded; and the mountain battery, a gunner wounded. The total loss was thus thirty-three killed and thirty-six wounded.

OnNovember i8th General Lockhart broke up the Maidan Camp, and moved to another camping ground three miles to the north-east, near the hamlet of Bagh. This move was made partly because all the forage in the neighbourhood of the old camp had been eaten up,partly because Bagh was a better position from which to begin a further advance. The hamlet was also one of the spots in the valley regarded as sacred by the mullahs, and to camp there in defiance of the tribesmen was to show that the On the next two days the troops were busy completing the change of camps and bringing up anenormous stock of supplies from Maidan to Bagh. There was a good deal of firing into the new camp, and on the 20th the Afridis attempted to cut off the rear sections of a long convoy, near the Arhanga Pass. They were beaten off with heavy loss. On the same day parties sent out from Bagh Camp blew up a